


Secret Life or How Hardison's private life helped to take down a mark

by techno_katie



Category: Leverage
Genre: BDSM, F/M, M/M, Original Character(s), Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-07-10
Updated: 2011-07-27
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/techno_katie/pseuds/techno_katie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when Hardison's private life overlaps with the Leverage team? Will all his secrets come to light including his feelings for Eliot come to life? And where does Parker fit into the equation?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hidden Desires

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a terrible summary and am always in need of a beta! Please let me know what your think of the first chapter!

Hardison sprawled across a chair in the bar, even for a tall guy he had a way of occupying more space then should seem possible. It was still early afternoon so he had decided a Coke would be most appropriate as he caught up on emails from Nana and others.

It was nice not to have anyone that expected anything at the moment Giving people crap and making jokes hid a lot and made people look elsewhere. It had been his defense mechanism ever since he was a kid and it continued to work very well. Most of the time he enjoyed it and it helped to relieve his own tension but sometimes it was a little aggravating to always be the comedy relief.

He looked up as he heard the bell ding above the door and Parker bounced inside; Eliot shutting it behind both of them. She had opted for pigtails today and in a white t-shirt and jeans she looked like everyone’s favorite cheerleader grown up a bit….if you ignored the more than slightly crazy look in her eyes most of the time.

Hardison couldn’t help it as his eyes drifted away from his lady love to Eliot; the man could wear a paper sack and still be menacing even at 6 inches shorter than he was. He had almost an intellectual thing going today in a black turtleneck and gray slacks and yet even with everything covered up the long sleeved shirt did nothing to hide the muscles and strength below it.

As the two headed upstairs his eyes drifted down noticing that the turtleneck wasn’t the only thing form-fitting, he thanked his dark complexion otherwise his face would be as red as a tomato as he checked out the last view of Eliot’s ass.

Eliot was a friend and had saved him from some stupid stunt more than once but the man was the straightest dude he had ever met; he could seduce the panties off pretty much any girl and did it with regularity. That southern drawl when it came out damn near drove him to his knees; there was more than one occasion where he had been glad he was sitting behind a desk.

They had just finished up another case so they were on a break for a few weeks but somehow they all seemed to congregate around the bar and in Nate’s place even when they weren’t planning a job. Of course it did help that Nate’s was really the only one they actually knew about; he had no clue where Eliot or Sophie stayed when they weren’t here.

Although he cared for Parker they both had acknowledged that their “relationship” was not going to fall inside any of the normal parameters. Privately, they had additional conversations and she knew what he wanted and he had permission to seek it out as long as he came back to her because she didn‘t trust herself to be what he needed. It was a good thing considering he had been feeling the itch under his skin for more than a week.

He had tried to ignore it; tried to push it to the side but every time he did that it just came back to bite him. With that in mind he headed out of the bar back to his own apartment which really was just a bed, microwave, and a room of computers and peripherals. After a shower he ducked into his bedroom pulling on a pair of dark brown leather pants, a simple tan tank top a pair of pull on brown boots. He had never understood why subs always wore the tall laced boots as they were ultimately just more work to get out of.

Rubbing a hand over his head he grabbed an ID and a set of keys. About 30 minutes later he had a taxi drop him off in the parking lot of a non-descript brick building in the middle of the industrial district; if you hadn’t known it was there then it would have looked like just another small building. He took a taxi because it was always a question of just how messed up he would be when he left. Although they didn’t serve alcohol to those that were going to play if it was a good session he didn’t need a drop of it to get completely high.

Walking inside he went straight up to the girl behind the counter; she was dressed rather non-descript in a black dress; until you noticed the leather collar locked around her throat.

As Hardison was pulling out his wallet he felt a tap on his shoulder, he smiled as he turned around being greeted by a familiar face. Peter was part owner of the club and just looking at him you never would have suspected it or the fact that he was one of the most dominant men that Hardison had ever met. He was white, a few inches shorter than Alec, with simple brown short hair and brown eyes.

Peter had taken him under his wing when we was just 18 and wandered into the club not even knowing what he wanted or just how much his naiveté and age drew both good and…not so good Doms his direction. They had bonded over old episodes of Dr. Who but weren’t right for each other in the long term; Peter would always be able to take him to his knees but his current partner was just the right fit.

He and his partner both knew what Alec really did; while they worried about the potential danger and wanted him to make the best of the brain they didn’t lecture. He had told them all about the team though had kept the names private just to try and keep the two pieces of his life separate.

He smiled as he wrapped up the shorter man in a hug; “Peter! How are you? I haven’t seen you or Mark for awhile.”

“We’ve been great, though you’ve been absent for quite some time, are you taking care of yourself?” He ran an appraising eye over the young man; seeing a few lines of exhaustion of both body and soul.

“Yeah, I just needed a break or to break, depending on the crowd tonight” Alec smirked as he held out a wrist for a UV stamp that he wouldn’t be drinking that night.

Nodding Peter pointed him back to the entrance, “Well, it’s busy tonight so hopefully you should find someone you find interesting. Remember standard safe word is red, minute you say it everything should stop. If not just scream it louder.” he smiled as we wrapped one hand around Alec‘s wrist gripping tight for just a minute “Feel free to find me later if you need it.”

“Thanks man”

Entering the club Alec could feel the bass of the background music in his bones and felt himself immediately relax. This is somewhere he belonged; this subculture. Underneath the music he could hear the swish and crack against skin and the low moans of individuals in the back rooms.

Moving out to the dance floor he let go of the tension that was permanently between his shoulders and just moved allowing the music and movement of the crowd to take him down. After awhile someone slid up behind him wrapping their arms around his waist pressing into him. Turning around he took a long look at his partner; tall, maybe 2-3 inches taller than him, Caucasian, with brown eyes and extremely short spiked hair.

Leaning forward Alec wrapped an arm around his neck putting his lips close to the other man’s ear. “I don’t switch” The other man smirked wrapping a more possessive arm around Alec’s waist “That’s good because neither do I.” Accompanying the last words with a tight squeeze on Alec’s hips.

Moaning softly he melted a bit into the other man; he was attractive, powerful and just proved he knew exactly how hard to touch. Not to mention he was Eliot’s complete opposite…he quickly shook his head to get rid of the though. NO, that was not was tonight was about, he would not be comparing everyone to someone who could never give him what he wants.

After awhile he could feel the sweat beading down his neck and his dancing partner leaned in dragging his tongue up the long line of his throat as he let out a small whimper at the bite underneath his jaw; “How about we move this party to a back room?”

Pressing against the other man so he could feel his interest he nodded smiling as they left the dance floor headed for the row of back rooms separated by sliding dividers. No locks but once a door was closed it was only opened if something was suspected to be going bad inside.

He knew better than to go to the back rooms with someone the first time without any discussion not to mention not even knowing any names or info but he wanted it so badly, if only to get to other two members out of his head for a few minutes so he silenced the warning bells in the back if his head.

Once inside the room he was pushed against a wall and devoured, hands roaming over his entire body. Moaning louder he pressed up against the Dom; this is what he wanted; this is what he had come here for.

His shirt was pulled off over his head as he went lower bite marks standing out pale for a moment and then fading on the dark skin. He felt himself turned around to the wall; hands secured above his head, wrist cuffs attached to the waiting chains.

Still in a haze he waited; anticipating the next move of his partner wanting, needing more from the encounter. He cried out as he felt a lash fall across his back, almost bringing him out of the zone, there had been no warm up, no gradual heat, just the immediate punishing strike.

This was what he had wanted; this punishment as the second stroke came down harder he could feel it wrap around his side, welting, and making him cry out. From the first few he knew there would be bruises spread across his ass and welts along his lower back.

This wasn’t the man he wanted punishing him, it wasn’t Eliot with his hand wrapped around the strap it was just some stranger who was experienced but just didn’t seem to care. “RED!” he cried out as the next strike landed and he heard the strap hit the ground and a low laugh, “So, you can’t even take some good punishment; I’m sure someone will find you in here at some point.”

He felt a hand press against one of the welts on his back eliciting a low cry before the door opened and closed, his hands still restrained. Squirming a little he wished he had actually gotten a little insight from Parker on picking locks, it would have come in extraordinarily handy at that moment.  
Thankfully it wasn’t long before he heard the door open behind him, “Alec? Jesus, what did that guy do to your back?”

“Peter, do you think you could just let me down?” He felt the restraints on his wrists released as pulled them down rubbing his raw wrists sheepishly as he looked at the other man.

He was standing with his arms crossed a disapproving look on his face, “You’re striped to hell, you aren’t going to be sitting comfortably for quite a few days. What were you thinking? I should put you over my lap myself for agreeing to private play with someone you just met. No discussion of limits or anything…next time we are having a serious discussion about safety young man.”

All through the speech he had been checking him over looking at the welts and just starting to blossom bruises as he led him out of the club. “I’m sorry Peter, I thought it was I wanted…”

It was what you wanted wasn’t it..but not from him, from someone else.” Peter felt the immediate tenseness in his shoulders, “that’s it isn’t it, you want to be punished but already have somebody in mind. Why didn’t you come to me? You know I’ll take care of you.”

“You have Marcus, I just wanted somebody too, even if for a night” he realized how pathetic that sounded as he shut up letting Peter push him into his car wincing a little as he hit the seat. “Well, you will be feeling this for a while and we are going to be having a chat about putting yourself in this position. Do you understand?”

“Yes Sir, I’m sorry.”

Relenting Peter slid into the driver‘s seat next to him, “Come on, you are coming home with me for the evening, I’m not letting you home to an empty house in this mindset.”

Resting his head on the Dom’s shoulder he nodded, “Have to be up early for work…team doesn’t really appreciate lateness.”

He laughed shortly, “Good, you can get up with Marcus, he has to get up early to make it to work as well.” With that he turned out onto the road headed home.

The next morning Alec woke up with a whimper as he felt aches where he hadn’t the previous night; his shoulders were sore and his back and ass were killing him; he definitely would be sitting gingerly for the next bit as he healed up.

Gingerly he climbed out of the guest room bed and headed into the bathroom slowly cleaning up, sighing as the hot shower soothed some of the aches in his shoulders and neck.

Wrapping a towel around his waist he wandered back into the bedroom noticing the loose t-shirt and pair of sweatpants that were folded waiting for him. Marcus was tall as well so the pants were only an inch short and the t-shirt was large giving plenty of space to the welts on his back.

After dressing he headed down to the kitchen watching Marcus bustle around; he was a tall skinny guy with bright green eyes and dark brown almost black hair. He worked as a pastry chef at a hotel downtown so had to get in early to start the baked goods for the day.

He was already dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans; his chef coat waiting for him at the door. “I smelled something good, please tell me I wasn’t dreaming.”

The other man turned around with a tray of cinnamon rolls in his hands, “Well, I heard we had a houseguest so I thought it only polite to cook breakfast, have a seat and I’ll get you a cup of coffee to go with it.”

He sat at the table wincing slightly as he settled in the chair the other man sighing as he put down a cinnamon roll and some coffee. “What were you thinking? I know Peter taught you better than that, to go into a backroom without any discussion?”

His disappointed look was almost worse then the glare that he had gotten last night from Peter and he slumped in the chair a bit dropping his head and shoulders feeling a bit like a recalcitrant child, “I’m sorry, I wanted it hard and didn’t think about it.”

“Next time you come to Peter and I, do you understand? If I catch you this banged up again from someone who you have just met I will take you over my knee myself, crystal?”

“Uh huh, I won’t do it again.”

“Good, now eat your cinnamon roll.” As he put a bite in his mouth he almost choked as Marcus finished the statement, “and tell me about this guy who has you all turned around.”

“Um..what makes you think there’s a guy?” he stammered hoping the blush wasn’t visible on his face.

“Please, you wouldn’t be this turned around over anything else, now spill!” he demanded sitting down with his own cup of coffee.

“Well, um, you know I joined a new group? Well, it’s like a long-term thing and he’s a “retrieval specialist” I guess you would call it. Man, the things that he can do…I watched him take out almost this whole latino gang and he never uses guns.”

“I take it he’s also attractive?”

“Well, yeah, I mean he’s shorter than me but who isn’t? He has longer hair and this really toned body, and he just kinda exudes this dom persona, you know what I mean? The “I’m in charge and I like it that way” thing. Not to mention he totally saved me a few times, even got me out of a jam when he said he wouldn‘t.” He took another drink of his coffee realizing he was droning a little bit about Eliot.

“mmmhmmm, and is your interest returned?”

His shoulder slumped as he picked at the remains of the cinnamon roll; “That’s the crappy part, he’s straight, I mean like sleeping with models, hitting on anything that moves straight.”

“Ahh, so that is what has you all turned around, it happens Alec, we all do it at least once. I know it sucks and it hurts now but it will get better, I promise.”

He managed a tremulous smile at the other man, “Yeah I guess; plus I‘ve got a great girl who not only gets me but actually told me to find what I needed; I guess one out two ain‘t bad.” Looking up at the kitchen clock he climbed to his feet, “I better get going, I have to change before we were gonna meet up today. Um, I don’t suppose you can give me a lift?”

With a laugh Marcus got up as well, “Sure, let’s go.”


	2. Beginning Exposure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when the new client has a connection to Hardison's world?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me forever to come up with an idea for why they needed to take him down, I hope you enjoy!

Thankfully, he had stored an extra change of clothes in the back room of the bar so after Marcus dropped him off he was able to change into a t-shirt and jeans. Hardison winced a little as the jeans rubbed uncomfortably against his upper thighs but he was thankful that the t-shirt was soft and not aggravating to his striped back.

Rubbing a hand over his head he stuffed the dirty clothes into his backpack quickly climbing the stairs to Nate’s place wincing a little as the welts pulled across his back all the way to his upper thighs. Even his shoulders were aching from being stretched so far over his head. Walking into the apartment his stride was quite a bit shorter than it normally was just to not force the jeans to rub against the back of his legs.

Alec was the last one to arrive, Eliot and Parker were sitting behind the high tabletop on either side of the large touch screen. Sophie was in the kitchen drinking a cup of either tea or coffee leaning on the counter where she could still see the tv. Nate of course was standing by the large screen looking at a few documents displayed on the screen. Wandering over he stood in front of the touch screen, thankful he didn’t have to make up an excuse not to sit down.

Both Eliot and Parker shared a look as he stepped between them, neither had missed the shortened step and stiff steps as he entered the room. It was definitely a walk that both Eliot and Parker had done before when they overextended themselves on a job. Oddly enough Parker was the one to shake her head as Eliot opened his mouth to quiz the taller man.

He threw the crazy girl an arched eyebrow just as Nate started to talk, “Nice of you to join us Hardison” Nate looked over taking a drink out of his coffee cup which was almost guaranteed to not be just coffee.

“Yeah, yeah, a man can be late once in a while” he grumbled as he glanced down at the screen scanning the letter that appeared to be on the screen. “So, what’s the story on the job?” He drug the letter a bit larger to more easily read what was clearly some sort of blackmail letter.

“I decided that this case warranted the client coming in to give us a breakdown, it’s a bit of a sensitive topic and we are all going to have to tread very lightly.” Nate turned towards the back room of the apartment, “Mr. Ellison, if you could come out?”

Alec felt his whole face pale as Peter came out of the back room, he hunched in a little bit thinking back and realized that he had never seen Peter in the morning; he must have come straight to the bar. While he and Marcus knew what he did and that he worked with a team he had never gone into a lot of detail.

He turned his head at the sudden sharp poke from Parker; he shook his head at her quizzical look; she had immediately noticed hi reaction and wanted to know why. He wasn’t sure if he could talk even if he wanted to at this point.

Peter came to stand next to Nate dressed similar to how he was the night before in dark slacks and a dark blue button up shirt, his wedding ring prominently on his finger. Alec knew that he had been spotted but Peter had significant practice in not acknowledging those of the club in situations out in the real world.

“Mr. Ellison, this is Eliot, Sophie, Parker and Hardison. Would you mind telling them what you told me earlier?”

“Of course Mr. Ford” Peter turned towards the screen tapping a few pictures to make then enlarge on the screen, showing a very familiar red brick building, “I’m the owner of a small membership club downtown called Collar, and we tend to cater to more of a…specialized clientele.”

Sophie spoke up briefly, “ I had thought I was familiar with most of clubs in Boston but I have not heard of Collar before.”

“You likely wouldn’t have unless you are part of the scene; everyone who comes to our club is involved in a fetish; largely BDSM but everyone is welcome. Because of this as you can imagine secrecy, exclusivity, and privacy are extremely important. Every single person who enters our club has to vetted and go through an initiation meeting. I myself am a dominant and I have been together with my sub for years now.”

At the further details Eliot, Sophie, and Parker all looked wide-eyed at the rather unassuming gentleman. It wasn’t surprising that Eliot and Sophie were not entirely unfamiliar with the world because cons and recovery would sometimes go places or involve people involved in that lifestyle. The shocker was that Parker didn’t have a million questions; what the other three didn’t know is that her million questions had already been posed to Hardison when he had told her about his other life.

Peter brought up a picture of a very polished looking man in his mid-30’s wearing an expensive suit, short hair, and a cold look to his eyes. “This is Andrew Lilson, up until a few months ago he was a very active member of the club however we ended his membership because he broke the rules”

Another picture popped up of a fairly young and tall African American man who would have been quite handsome if his face was not bruised and bloody. A separate photo popped up as well showing bloody lines running down the young man’s back.

“Andrew met Luke at the club and they ended up connecting again outside the club. In a play session he didn’t follow Luke’s safe word and this was the result. We can’t allow this type of person in our club, they are just waiting to erupt again. A few weeks ago we started getting letters including photos of people entering and exiting the club, their names, addresses, phone numbers, personal information, everything about these people.”

Photos of individuals in long jackets entering and exiting the club, and then more of people in the club in various states of bondage and undress popped on the screen.

“Andrew threatened that unless we gave him full ownership of the club he would send everything public; including our membership list. Throughout the life of the club we have kept a membership list, a member of the club who I very close with helped me to come up with the encryption and we keep it on a computer not linked to the internet. I know this might seem extensive but you have to realize that for some of our members if this came out it could ruin their lives; there have been even been cases where people have lost their children because of their involvement in the group. I have no idea how he could ever have gotten the list.”

Hardison narrowed his eyes, he had helped Peter set up the system and there was no way that anyone should have ever been able to get in; they would have not only broken into the club but then also bypassed all the additional security measures. Off the top of his head if he was being kind there was maybe a half dozen people who would be able to do it.

“So I don’t see the problem, simple denial if it goes public, normally news stations wouldn’t even give this type of news the time of day.” Sophie came closer looking at the some of the photos, “Most of these aren’t even that incriminating.”

“Ahh, well that is where Mr. Lilson’s profession comes in.” Nate brought up some photos from business journals and other articles and photos “Andrew Lilson is the Chief Operating Officer of News Incorporate Inc.”

“Isn’t that the company that was all over the news for hacking the emails and phones of all those soldiers and publishing the messages that they posted.” Eliot looked disgusted as he leaned over Hardison looking at the screen the previous articles displayed.

“Yes, and Lilson managed to pawn the whole thing off on his various underlings who run the day to day of the different papers and magazines. He is still COO of the company and even just paid out himself a huge bonus for the year based on the year end earnings. So not only could he publish names and exaggerations but would make money off the ensuing sales and scandals to arise.”

Peter spoke up here again with a vaguely sickened look on his face, “If Lilson owns the club I don’t want to think about what is going to happen, from my understanding he is still visiting the underground clubs, where there really are no rules, no protection. I have no idea how many more young men he’s done this too, I know of at least two, the same build and type since he was kicked out of our club”

“And that is why this is our next job.” Nate turned to Peter shaking his hand firmly, “Thank you very much Peter, I expect we will be in touch shortly.” Peter shook his hand but with a quick look around shook his head, “No I expect I will be sticking around at least for a little while.”

Nate blinked surprised but just nodded, ‘Well then if you just wouldn’t mind taking a seat at the bar we can start.” Turning back to the screen he looked over the documents, “First things first, we need additional information on his weaknesses. The best place to observe any man is where he feels the most comfortable which in this case sounds to be these underground clubs he frequents. Sophie, Eliot I’ll want you to make contact there.”

Hardison couldn’t help himself he let out a snort as Nate started to talk drawing the attention of all three towards him. “Did you have something to contribute Hardison?”

“Well, yeah I mean no offense Nate but how do you expect both Sophie and Eliot to not only get into an underground club in a world that they’ve never been involved in and also make contact with the mark? Both of them come across as dominants and if Peter is right about this guy there’s no way he would willing want to spend a ton of time with doms at this place. Not to mention that both of them would just scream newbie. And no offense Parker girl but I’m pretty sure if you went in then somebody would end up stabbed with some pointy object.”

“Well Hardison.then what do you suggest” Nate asked the question a bit sarcastically not expecting that he would even have an answer and that he was just raising problems again.

Sharing a brief look with Peter and Parker he took a deep breath, "Send me".


End file.
